Improvement in wire fences



Lit-SPEAKMAN Improvement in Wire Fences Patented Jan. 16, 1872.

UNITED STATES PATENT QEEICE.

THOMAS H. SPEAKMAN, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN WIRE FENCES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 122,862, dated January 16, 1872.

I, THOMAS H. SPEAKMAN, of the city and county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wire Fences, of which the following' is a specification:

The posts at each end oi' the intended line of fence, and also wherever permanent movable bars for passage are desired to be introduced, are iirml y braced. The brace shouldbe notched into the post and the foot of it planted firmly against a large stone or block oi' durable wood embedded in the earth. At intervals of from two to three hundred yards, more or less, or midway in each fence, it not exceeding, say, one thousand feet in length, I introduce what I term a stretcher or stretching-section. This consists of two adjustable posts, which may be planted about eleven or twelve feet apart, with bars'passin g through them made to mo ve freely either way. These bars, one or more of them, are bored at each end with a series or succession of holes, say, an inch or three-fourths of an inch in diameter, commencing at the outer side of each post and extending inward, each hole being about half the width of itself further back than the preceding one; and several pins are provided for each stretcher, tapered in the form of draw-bore pins and adapted to the holes in the bars. The ordinary posts for the intervening parts may be sixteen or eighteen feet apart, and between each two I introduce, at equal distances, three or more vertical slats suspended upon and connecting and 4supporting the wires. These slats may be of boards or pickets an inch or less in thickness, and from three to five or more inches wide, and they are introduced edgewise so as to present the largest possible surfaces to be seen by the cattle and prevent their running against the fence, thus combining the advantages of a wooden fence with the cheapness, strength, and durability of iron. The posts may be of either wood or iron. The Wires are carried through corresponding holes, say one-fourth of an inch in diameter, bored through the posts, and edgewise through the slats, and the ends connected together or looped into the wire itself on the outside of the end posts, so as to render the'wire continuous in order that in stretching the tension of the several strands may become uniform. Each stretcher makes, of course, a break in the continuity of the wires, thus dividing the fence into sections.

For cattle and horses two, or, at most, three parallel strands of wire at proper distances from the ground and each other will be suflicient. If it is desired to fence also against the smaller animals at least five Wires should be used. The wire should be galvanized, and ofthe size designated as No. 8 or No. 9.

The stretching of the wires and their control in this respect at all times is effected by means ofthe draw-bore pins driven successively in the holes in the movable bars, these holes being so bored that when one pin is driven fully up a second hole is brought sufficiently forward for the insertion ot the point of a second pin. In this process the earth must, of course, be removed from the inner side of the stretcherposts in order to adjust them to the changed position required in stretching the wires. The stretching-bars are designed also to be removable for passage-ways, as occasion may require, their position and the tension of the wires being readily restored by means of the draw-bore pins, or they may be temporarily braced.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure l represents a fence of live strands of wire intended for large and small stock, and Fig. 2 represents a fence for large stock only.

In said drawing, A represents the iiXed posts at the ends 5 A', the adjustable stretcher-posts; B, the wires; G, the vertical slats suspended upon and bracing the wires, and designed to make the fence visible; D, the stretchingsection 5 E, the postbraces; and F the stones or blocks embedded in the earth as a foundation for the braces.

Having described my invention, I claiml. The stretching-section D, consisting of the adjustable posts A', movable bars D, and drawbore pins, as described.

2. A continuous strand of wire passed through openings in a fixed and movable post, A A', and intermediate adjustable bars C, so as to admit the said wire to be readily stretched through said openings, as described.

3. The combination of the stretching-section D, braced posts A, continuous wire B, and the vertical slats G, as described.

THOS. H. SPEAKMAN.

Witnesses EDWIN L. STANTON, A. S. WORTHINGTON. (52) 

